Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do any of you have experience sexing baby leopard rats. I just had a clutch of three hatch and I can't pop any of them. Normally I would assume that they were all female except that I had two hatch last year and I had the same thing happen. I assumed they were females and held onto them only to find out that at least one of the them(the yearlings) is a male, after probing it. I don't feel comfortable probing hatchlings and I don't have any trouble popping any other types of rat snakes. I would appreciate any suggestions. I need to get this figured out before offering them for sale. I'll post some pics after they shed. Thanks.
-----
Matt Kauffman

Matt, I've also noticed over the years I've bred them that leopards aren't as easy to pop as many other ratsnake species. I always pop first but don't go aggressivly about it and then probe each one that doesen't pop male. Leopard ratsnakes are fairly stocky babies and not nearly as hard to probe as some others. When I probe really small species I go in without much pressure at all. As soon as I think I feel the probe stop, I very lightly back the probe up then go forward again (lightly) and make sure it stops in the same place. I mightly lightly go back and forth 3 or 4 times before removing the probe to be sure. If you very gently go back and forth and it stops in the same place you can be confident. Many people just probe in once and do it firmly. I personally feel much more confident I never hurt a baby and get an accurate sexing doing it the way I mentioned.
For probing little babies I use the smallest probe that comes in the little pack of 3 small probes. They come in a little plastic sleeve with 3 individual sections, one for each probe. The smallest size probe that comes in the tubes with several size probes are just not small enough for little species.
-----
Randy Whittington

Thanks Randy, that helps out a lot. I also tried measuring tail length from vent to tip, but I don't know how accurate that is. Two of the hatchlings measured five centimeters and the other one measured five and half centimeters. Males should have longer tails. Maybe after I probe them that will help confirm my findings, or it could just confuse me even more.lol. I'll have to order some of those little probes though as I don't have those.
-----
Matt Kauffman

Congrats on hatching those. Got any shots to post?
-----
Randy Whittington

I will in a few days. I let my inlaws borrow my camera for their vacation. I'll post pics of the hatchlings and the yearlings. I'm also waiting for clutches of bairds, everglades, thornscrub(meahllmorum), and bamboo(coxi)rats to hatch. All are past the sixty day mark. This has been the first year that many of my pairs where old enough to breed. Next year all my pituophis pairs should go, and some kings. I'll have some more rat species too, of course.
-----
Matt Kauffman